Building No. 7, oil on panel, 18 × 36 inches, 2008.

The River North Series

"In the River North Series, my attention is drawn to the very understated aspects of our vanishing industrial heritage, where rural and urban imagery blend. Painting these quiet structures and rail lines that etch the city’s edge is also a way for me to honor the stories and histories that are born in places such as this. These overlooked places exist nearly everywhere and, like skeletons, they invisibly support the lives that become more complex and louder as we spiral into the city centers."

-Sharon Feder, 2008

About Sharon Feder

A Colorado native, Feder's paintings record a post-industrial world torn between ruination and rebirth.  Her work is animated by a tension between the subtle spiritual influences which inform her vision and a harsh materiality exposed in the medium and subject matter. 

Feder was passionately devoted to painting as a child and began advanced training under private tutelage at the age of eight.  Fortuitous public schooling brought Feder under the guidance of Colorado artists Ed Marecak and Mark Zamantakis, both gallery collected modernists.  Later, as a student at the University of Washington, Feder studied under Michael Spaford and Patty Warashina.  Her studies culminated in a prolonged mentorship with Robert Froese.

Feder's lifelong infatuation with color has made her a consummate colorist.   “I remember," says Feder, "one day, as a kid, I was walking across a park, looking at the sky and the clouds and nature and the buildings around me.  I suddenly realized that no one else could ever, or would ever, see anything exactly as I saw it.  The tremendous thrill and loneliness of that knowledge has remained throughout my life.”   

Feder's work has evolved from decades of technical experience as a set designer, muralist, and studio artist. Her commissions include murals and paintings for dozens of private and public collectors both nationally and internationally.